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This study evaluated the trend of diarrheal diseases managed with zinc supplementation by comparing it with diarrheal diseases managed without zinc supplementation at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching hospital (UPTH), Nigeria. The study was a descriptive retrospective study done at the Diarrhea Training Unit (DTU) of UPTH to determine the effect of zinc supplementation in the management of diarrhea in children under 5 years. Out of the 134 case records studied, of children aged 0 to 59 months who presented with diarrhea at the DTU, 57 children did not receive zinc supplementation between October and December, 2007 and 77 children received zinc supplementation between October and December 2009. The results showed that (74) 96.1% of patients who received zinc supplementation, and (48) 84.2% of those who did not, had no repeat diarrheal episodes when seen at the follow up clinic. On the other hand, 1.3% of those who received zinc supplementation and 1.8% of those who did not, had increased episodes of diarrhea when seen at the follow up clinic. Of those who received, and those who did not receive zinc supplementation, 2.6% and 14% respectively, had reduced episodes of diarrhea. These findings clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of zinc supplementation in halting the course of diarrheal diseases in children aged 0 to 59 months. We therefore advocate for the use of zinc supplementation in the management of diarrhea in Nigeri

Introducion: The impact of malaria scourge has been characterized by daunting challenges including antimalarial drug resistance. This necessitates the search for newer antimalaria drugs using approaches including drug repurposing. This study assessed whether Tinidazole (T) can be repurposed as antimalaria in combination with artemether/lumefantrine (A/L) in Plasmodium berghei infected mice. Materials and Methods: Plasmodium berghei infected mice were grouped and orally treated with A/L (2.3/13.7mg/kg), T (28.6 mg/kg), and A/L/T daily in curative, suppressive and prophylactic studies. The negative control (NC) and positive control (MC) were orally treated with 0.9% normal saline (0.2mL) and chloroquine (CQ) (10mg/kg) daily for 4 days, respectively. After drug administration, blood samples were collected and evaluated for parasitemia level, lipid and hematological parameters. Results: Significant decreases in parasitemia levels in the curative, suppressive and prophylactic groups were observed in mice treated with T (28.6 mg/kg) (p<0.05), A/L (2.3/13.7 mg/kg) (p<0.01) and A/L/T (p<0.001) when compared to negative control. Mean survival times were significantly increased at T (28.6 mg/kg) (p<0.05), A/L (2.3/13.7mg/kg) (p<0.01) and A/L/T (p<0.001) when compared to negative control. Red blood cells, hemoglobin, packed cell volume, high density lipoprotein, cholesterol levels were significantly (p<0.001) increased whereas white blood cells, total cholesterol, triglyceride and low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels  were significantly decreased at T (28.6 mg/kg) (p<0.05), A/L (2.3/13.7mg/kg) (p<0.01) and A/L/T (p<0.001) when compared to negative control. The antiplasmodial effect of A/L/T differ significantly (p<0.05) when compared to positive control. Conclusion: This study recommends the repurposing of tinidazole in combination with artemether/lumefantrine for malaria treatment and further studies in humans.

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This study evaluated and compared the efficacy of five brands of Artemisinin Combination Therapies (ACTs); Dihydroartemisinin plus Piperaquine, Artesunate plus Amodiaquine, Artesunate plus Sulphadoxine/Pyrimethamine, Artemether plus lumefantrine and Artesunate plus mefloquine combinations in vivo in P.berghei infected swiss albino mice. The experimental animals were pre-screened to rule out infection. All drugs were administered as clinical doses for the curative test and the Mean Percentage Parasitemia level assessed daily for seven days and on day 60. The results showed that all the drugs were effective with artesunate plus amodiaquine combination being the most efficacious followed by dihydroartemisinin plus piperaquine and artesunate plus sulphadoxine plus pyrimethamine combinations followed by artesunate plus mefloquine combination and artemether plus lumefantrine combination which was the least efficacious. Results on day 60 showed increasing parasitemia levels in mice which received Artemether plus lumefantrine and Artesunate plus mefloquine combinations which is indicative of recrudescence. The results of this study showed that the ACT’s used in the experiment were all efficacious. The possible development of resistance to some of the drugs was shown by the increasing parasitemia levels following treatment with artesunate plus lumefantrine and artesunate plus mefloquine combinations on day 60